Effect of gold nanoparticle as a novel nanocatalyst on luminol-hydrazine chemiluminescence system and its analytical application

In this work the catalytic role of unsupported gold nanoparticles on the luminol–hydrazine reaction is investigated. Gold nanoparticles catalyze the reaction of hydrazine and dissolved oxygen to generate hydrogen peroxide and also catalyze the oxidation of luminol by the produced hydrogen peroxide. The result is an intense chemiluminescence (CL) due to the excited 3-aminophthalate anion. In the absence of gold nanoparticles no detectable CL was observed by the reaction of luminol and hydrazine unless an external oxidant is present in the system. The size effect of gold nanoparticles on the CL intensity was investigated. The most intensive CL signals were obtained with 15-nm gold nanoparticles. UV–vis spectra and transmission electron microscopy studies were used to investigate the CL mechanism. The luminol and hydroxide ion concentration, gold nanoparticles size and flow rate were optimized. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of hydrazine in boiler feed water samples. Between 0.1 and 30 μM of hydrazine could be determined with a detection limit of 30 nM.     

流动注射电化学发光分析法测定维生素B1及在尿液分析中的应用

将在线恒电流电解产生ClO-与Luminol构成了较强的化学发光体系,基于维生素B1对该化学发光体系有抑制作用,结合流动注射技术,建立了测定维生素B1的流动注射电化学发光新方法,并把它应用于尿液分析中. 该方法在维生素B1的浓度为1.0×10-10～1.0×10-8 mmol/mL之间分段回归,呈良好的线性,检出限达到5.0×10-11 mmol/mL.     

One-step synthesis of amino-dextran-protected gold and silver nanoparticles and its application in biosensors

A sensitive method for the detection of the lectin protein concanavalin A (Con A) was developed using amino-dextran (AD)-protected gold (AD-Au) and silver nanoparticles (AD-Ag) as sensitive optical probes. The AD-Au and AD-Ag nanoparticles were synthesized by directly applying amino-dextran as a reductive and protective reagent. The size of the nanoparticles could be altered by changing the molar ratio of AD to the metal salt. The amino-dextran bound to Con A by forming a 4:1 Au-Con A complex at neutral pH, and the nanoparticles were induced to aggregate by Con A. The absorption intensity of the nanoparticles decreased linearly with as the Con A concentration was increased from 3.85×10^–8 to 6.15×10^–7 M. The Au-Con A complex was dissociated by the disaccharide isomaltose, which has a higher affinities for Con A than Au; this competitive strategy could also be used to detect similar types of saccharides.     

The study of a chemiluminescence immunoassay using the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescent reaction and its application

The paper presented a novel chemiluminescence (CL) immunoassay method, which combines the advantages of traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and bis (2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate (TCPO)-hydrogen peroxide CL detection system. A fluorescent product 2,3-diaminophenazine (DAPN) was produced by reaction between o-phenylenediamine (OPDA, 1,2-diaminobenzene) and H₂O₂ catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase (HRP). DAPN was excited by the reactive intermediate of TCPO-H₂O₂ chemiluminescent reaction, and led to CL. The dependence of the CL intensity on the concentrations of antigen was studied. As analytical application, the proposed method was used for determination of recombinant human interleukin 6 (rHu IL-6) and β-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-HCG). Under the selected experimental conditions, a linear relationship was obtained between the CL intensity and the concentration of rHu IL-6 in the range of 4.0-625.0 pg/ml, and β-HCG in the range of 12.5-400.0 mIU/ml. The detection limits were 0.5 pg/ml for rHu IL-6 and 3 mIU/ml for β-HCG with relative standard deviation of 2.3 for 78.0 pg/ml rHu IL-6, and 3.9 for 50.0 mIU/ml β-HCG. This method has been applied to the determination of rHu IL-6 in human serum and β-HCG in urine with satisfactory results.     

Fuzzy linear-weight transformation simplex method and its application to a chemiluminescence method

The fuzzy linear-weight transformation simplex method is designed for multi-feature optimization. The mathematical principle is described. The fuzzy relation matrix is developed on the basis of membership functions, which are expressed here as a set of linear equations. The features to be optimized are weighted according to the needs of the user. The Basic program is operated on an Apple-II or compatible computer. The method is applied to select the optimum reaction conditions for the 1,10-phenanthroline/H₂O₂/CTMAB/Cu²⁺ chemiluminescence system.     

Fluorosurfactant-prepared triangular gold nanoparticles as postcolumn chemiluminescence reagents for high-performance liquid chromatography assay of low molecular weight aminothiols in biological fluids

Our recent study demonstrates the synthesized triangular gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by trisodium citrate reduction of HAuCl(4) in the presence of nonionic fluorosurfactant (FSN) could display stronger catalytic activity towards luminol-chemiluminescence (CL) than spherical AuNPs. Ultratrace aminothiols may cause a great decrease in CL intensity of the triangular AuNPs-luminol CL system. In this article, we utilize the as-prepared triangular AuNPs as novel postcolumn CL reagents to explore a simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-CL method for the determination of low molecular weight aminothiols (i.e., cysteine, homocysteine, glutathione, cysteinylglycine and glutamylcysteine). The as-prepared triangular AuNPs were easier to synthesize, stable at a wider pH range and high ionic strength, and highly selective and sensitive towards reduced aminothiols. The detection limits at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 for cysteine, homocysteine, glutathione, cysteinylglycine and glutamylcysteine were 0.016, 0.08, 0.1, 0.04 and 0.1pmol, respectively. Recoveries from spiked urine and plasma samples were 95.7-104.3%. The applicability of the proposed method has been validated by determining these low molecular weight aminothiols in human urine and plasma samples with satisfactory results, and thus it will have great potential application in clinical diagnosis.     

Development of an automatic multi-channel ink-jet ejection chemiluminescence system and its application to the determination of horseradish peroxidase

In this work, an automatic multi-channel ink-jet for chemiluminescence (CL) analysis was developed. The four-channel ink-jet device was controlled by a home-made circuit. Differing from the classic flow injection CL, the whole procedure for CL analysis was automatically completed on a hydrophobic glass side. CL reaction of luminal and hydrogen peroxide for the determination of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was selected as an application to automatic CL analysis platform. All solutions delivered by different channels were precisely ejected to the same position of the glass slide for the CL analysis. The consumption of reaction solution was reduced to nanoliter level. The whole CL analysis could be completed in less than 4 min, which was benefited from the prompt solution mixing in small size of droplet. The CL intensity increased linearly with HRP concentration in the range from 0.01 to 0.5 μg mL⁻¹. The limit of detection (LOD) (S/N = 3) was 0.005 μg mL⁻¹. Finally, the automatic CL system could also be used for the detection of HRP in HRP–protein conjugates, which showed its practical application in immunoassay.     

Development of a novel luminol chemiluminescent method catalyzed by gold nanoparticles for determination of estrogens

It has been found that gold nanoparticles (nano-Au) enhance the chemiluminescence (CL) of the luminol–hydrogen peroxide system and that estrogens inhibit these CL signals in alkaline solution. CL spectra, UV–visible spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to investigate the mechanism of the CL enhancement. On the basis of the inhibition, a flow-injection CL method has been established for determination of three natural estrogens. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range for determination of the estrogens was 0.07 to 7.0 μmol L⁻¹ for estrone, 0.04 to 10 μmol L⁻¹ for estradiol, and 0.1 to 10 μmol L⁻¹ for estriol. The detection limits were 3.2 nmol L⁻¹ for estrone, 7.7 nmol L⁻¹ for estradiol, and 49 nmol L⁻¹ for estriol, with RSD of 2.9, 2.6, and 1.8%, respectively. This method has been used for analysis of estrogens in commercial tablets and in urine samples from pregnant women.     

Determination of bisphenol A based on chemiluminescence from gold(III)-peroxymonocarbonate

Peroxymonocarbonate (HCO₄⁻) was produced by the online reaction of bicarbonate with hydrogen peroxide. A strong chemiluminescence (CL) was observed when HCO₄⁻ reacted with AuCl₄⁻ without any special CL reagent. When bisphenol A (BPA) was added to AuCl₄⁻-HCO₄⁻ CL system, the CL emission was inhibited significantly. This new CL system was developed as a flow-injection method for the determination of BPA. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the inhibited CL intensity was linearly related to the concentration of BPA from 0.3 to 80 μM (R = 0.9958). The detection limit of BPA was 0.08 μM. The relative standard deviation for 12 repeated measurements of 1.0 μM BPA was 2.9%. The interferences of some cationic ions can be removed by an online cation-exchange column. The applicability of the present CL system was demonstrated for the sensitive and selective determination of BPA in real samples (mineral water bottle, baby bottle, beverage bottle and polycarbonate container). Based on the CL spectrum, UV-visible adsorption spectra, and the quenching effect of reactive oxygen species scavengers, a possible CL mechanism was proposed.     

A study on terbium sensitized chemiluminescence of ciprofloxacin and its application

A novel rapid flow injection method with chemiluminescence (CL) detection was established for the determination of ciprofloxacin (CPLX), which is an antibiotic commonly used. The method is based on CL of Ce(IV)–SO₃²⁻ sensitized by Tb³⁺–CPLX, and showed the intensive bands characteristic of Tb³⁺ (⁵D₄→⁷F₅). The optimum conditions for CL emission were investigated. The linear relationship between the relative CL intensity and the concentration of CPLX is in the range of 9.0×10⁻⁹–1.0×10⁻⁶ mol/l with a detection limit of 3.1×10⁻¹⁰ mol/l. The relative standard deviation is 2.8% (n=11) for a level of 5.0×10⁻⁸ mol/l. The method was applied to the analysis of CPLX in human serum and urine samples with satisfactory results. The possible mechanism for this sensitized CL reaction is also discussed.     

Microdialysis sampling and monitoring of uric acid in vivo by a chemiluminescence reaction and an enzyme on immobilized chitosan support membrane

A new detection system based on microdialysis sampling and chemiluminescence (CL) reaction was developed for in vivo monitoring of uric acid (UA) with high sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy. The uric acid is indirectly monitored by CL detection of enzymatic reaction product formation (H₂O₂), catalyzed by Uricase. A microprobe was modified and coated with immobilized enzyme through a Streptavidin-biotin mediated linker by using a chitosan support membrane, polyurethane trapped ferrocene film is employed to protect the probe surface and diminish the interference from reductant molecules, which often are present in the blood (e.g. ascorbic acid). The earlier mentioned probe and the constructed sensor can detect uric acid in the range of 0.01-1 mM with detection limit (3σ) of 5 μM. Finally, the system is used to monitor uric acid (UA) variation through an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model. Following AMI-induced oxidative stress, the UA level decreases continuously, thus suggesting that UA plays a protective role as a substitute antioxidant. Furthermore, the in vivo monitoring results show good agreement with those obtained by a standard method, and the procedure is recommended for in vivo and real time monitoring of UA. In addition, the proposed method can be more accurate since the UA may be potentially oxidized by in vitro exposure to oxygen in the presence of a catalyst.     

A novel immunochromatographic assay based on a time-resolved chemiluminescence strategy for the multiplexed detection of ractopamine and clenbuterol

A novel multiplexed immunochromatographic assay (ICA) based on a time-resolved chemiluminescence (CL) strategy was developed for quantitative detection of β-agonists, by utilizing ractopamine (RAC) and clenbuterol (CLE) as the models. Different from conventional multiplexed ICA methods which usually require two or more test lines, this strategy was developed for detection of two β-agonists by using only one test line on the nitrocellulose membrane. In this study, horseradish peroxidase and alkaline phosphatase were used as the signal probes to label RAC antibody and CLE antibody, respectively. The two CL reactions with flash type and glow type kinetics characteristics were triggered simultaneously by injecting the coreactants, then the signals for RAC and CLE detections were recorded at 3 s and 300 s after coreactants injection, respectively. Owing to the utilization of CL detection, this protocol showed ideal sensitivity for quantitation. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits for RAC and CLE were 0.17 ng mL⁻¹ and 0.067 ng mL⁻¹ (S/N = 3), respectively. The whole assay process can be accomplished within 20 min without complicated sample pretreatment. The proposed method was successfully applied for the detection of RAC and CLE in spiked swine urine. It opens up a new pathway for designing a low cost, time-efficiency and multiplexed strategy for rapid screening and field assay.     

Melanin-based nanoparticles in biomedical applications: From molecular imaging to treatment of diseases

The melanin-based nanoparticles preparation methods were summarized here. Biomedical applications of melanin-based nanoparticles were also reviewed, including molecular imaging (magnetic resonance, positron emission tomography, and photoacoustic imaging) and treatment of diseases (drug delivery, photothermal therapy, antioxidant therapy, and iron overload therapy).     

A flow injection chemiluminescence method for the determination of fluoroquinolone derivative using the reaction of luminol and hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by gold nanoparticles

Based on the enhancement of chemiluminescence (CL) of luminol-hydrogen peroxide-gold nanoparticles system by fluoroquinolones (FQs), a novel and rapid CL method is reported for the determination of FQs derivatives. Under the optimum conditions, the CL intensity is proportional to the concentration of FQs derivative in solution. The corresponding linear regression equations are established over the range of 0.08-1.28 μg/mL for norfloxacin, 0.013-1.32 μg/mL for ciprofloxacin, 0.014-1.4 μg/mL for lomefloxacin, 0.029-1.46 μg/mL for fleroxacin, 0.02-1.0 μg/mL for ofloxacin and 0.01-1.44 μg/mL for levofloxacin, respectively. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) are 3.2, 9.5, 7.0, 9.0, 8.0, and 8.0 ng/mL with the relative standard deviation (n = 11) 4.3, 1.5, 1.9, 1.3, 1.6 and 2.1% for norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, lomefloxacin, fleroxacin, ofloxacin and levofloxacin, respectively. This proposed method has been applied to detect FQs derivatives in human urine successfully.     

Multiplex chemiluminescence microscope imaging of P16INK4A and HPV DNA as biomarker of cervical neoplasia

Classification of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) lesions in low-grade (CIN1) or high-grade (CIN2-3) ones is crucial for optimal patient management, but current histological diagnosis on bioptic samples is often hampered by inter-observer variability. To allow objective classification, we have exploited the peculiar characteristics of chemiluminescence detection, such as high sensitivity and easy quantification of the luminescence signal, to perform sequentially in the same tissue section both an immunohistochemical quantitative detection of p16^INK4A (a protein marker of high-grade CIN lesions) and an in situ hybridization for human papillomavirus (generally accepted as a necessary but insufficient cause of cervical carcinoma). Different label enzymes (alkaline phosphatase and horseradish peroxidase) were employed in order to avoid any interference between the two assays, and quantitative chemiluminescence image analysis was used to obtain objective evaluation of sample positivity. The multiplexed method allowed detection of two complementary biomarkers and provided discrimination between different lesions (non-neoplastic, low-grade and high-grade CIN). This assay might thus represent an accurate and objective diagnostic test providing important information for counseling, selection of therapy and follow up after surgical treatment.     

Peroxide-related chemiluminescence of cellulose and its self-absorption

In chemiluminometry, we measure the very faint light as a consequence of chemical reactions. During oxidation of cellulose, several reaction pathways lead to light production and in the present work we investigated chemiluminescence as a consequence of peroxide formation.With ¹³C-1 labelled glucose we studied oxidation of the end groups by following the emission of ¹³CO₂ using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A mechanism of peroxyacyl radical formation is suggested. Its proposed decomposition is a first-order reaction, which is reflected in chemiluminometric experiments. From these, we calculated the activation energy of the process, which depends on the temperature and is approximately 75 kJ mol⁻¹ at T > 100 °C and ∼55 kJ mol⁻¹ at T < 100 °C.Evidence is also presented on self-absorption of chemiluminescence in cellulose, suggesting that the phenomenon may account for up to 50% intensity loss.     

Light emitting diode induced chemiluminescence and its application as a detector for high performance liquid chromatography

Some categories of compounds, including quinones, coumarins, flavins, and xanthene dyes, were found to produce strong chemiluminescence (CL) signals with luminol in sample solution under the irradiation of light emitting diodes (LED) with proper wavelengths. Based on this phenomenon, a compact photochemical reactor was constructed to develop a novel LED induced CL detector for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The effects of related parameters including LED wavelength, luminol concentration, flow rate, pH, and eluents of HPLC were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detections (LODs) were in the range of 0.2–80 ng mL⁻¹. The applications and accuracy of the proposed method were validated by analyzing food samples such as milk powder, beer, candy and beverage with satisfactory results.     

Molecularly imprinted polymer based on chemiluminescence imaging for the chiral recognition of dansyl-phenylalanine

A new molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)–chemiluminescence (CL) imaging detection approach towards chiral recognition of dansyl-phenylalanine (Phe) is presented. The polymer microspheres were synthesized using precipitation polymerization with dansyl-l-Phe as template. Polymer microspheres were immobilized in microtiter plates (96 wells) using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as glue. The analyte was selectively adsorbed on the MIP microspheres. After washing, the bound fraction was quantified based on peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) analysis. In the presence of dansyl-Phe, bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate (TCPO) reacted with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) to emit chemiluminescence. The signal was detected and quantified with a highly sensitive cooled charge-coupled device (CCD). Influencing factors were investigated and optimized in detail. Control experiments using capillary electrophoresis showed that there was no significant difference between the proposed method and the control method at a confidence level of 95%. The method can perform 96 independent measurements simultaneously in 30 min and the limits of detection (LODs) for dansyl-l-Phe and dansyl-d-Phe were 0.025 μmol L⁻¹ and 0.075 μmol L⁻¹ (3σ), respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for 11 parallel measurements of dansyl-l-Phe (0.78 μmol L⁻¹) was 8%. The results show that MIP-based CL imaging can become a useful analytical technology for quick chiral recognition.     

CdTe nanocrystals sensitized chemiluminescence and the analytical application

It was found that the mixing of CdTe semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) with luminol in the presence of KMnO₄ can induce a great sensitized effect on chemiluminescence (CL) emission. When the concentration of luminol, KMnO₄ and NaOH were fixed at 1 μM, 1 μM and 0.05 M, respectively, the most excellent performance can be obtained for the CdTe NCs sensitized CL. By means of CL and photoluminescence spectra, we suppose the enhanced CL signals resulted from the accelerated luminol CL induced by the oxidized species of CdTe NCs. Based on the finding, using thioglycolic acid-capped CdTe NCs as label and immunoglobulin G (IgG) as a model analyte, a CL immunoassay protocol for IgG content detection was developed. The strong inhibition effect of phenol compounds on luminol-KMnO₄-CdTe NCs CL system was also observed. All these findings demonstrated the possibility of semiconductor nanocrystals induced chemiluminescence to be utilized for more practical applications.     

Interaction of ozone with gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles interact with aqueous ozone to produce a surface plasmon resonance shift without aggregation of the nanoparticles. Given ozone's destructive nature, the surprising finding was that the gold nanoparticles returned to their original color and were able to cycle between the wavelengths as ozone was introduced and removed. Gold islands were made and tested for a gaseous ozone response. Similarly to the aqueous system, the gold islands show a cycling effect. Potentially, this system would be useful as a sensor that identifies the presence of ozone in gaseous media.